The Lord will strengthen her on her bed of illness; You will sustain her.

Psalms 41:3

Marilyn came for counseling with physical, emotional, and relational problems. Her doctors had diagnosed her as having multiple sclerosis, a progressive neurological disorder that leads to blindness or paralysis. The disease can progress for a time and then go into remission for two or three years before recurring. There is no known cure.

Counseling helped Marilyn see that she did have choices. She could try to ignore her pain by continuing life as usual or run from it by becoming busier than ever. [The stress of this choice would probably make the disease progress more quickly.] She could make excuses about her illness or just worry about what would happen next. Resentment toward God was a possibility. So was just giving up and going to bed.

Marilyn looked at all these possible responses, and she tried many of them before and during counseling. Finally, however, she made the difficult decision to face her problems every day. This meant acknowledging her illness and its consequences and determining, with God’s help, to live with the truth. Marilyn decided to live one day at a time, make the best choices she could, and share her honest feelings with her loved ones.

Thought:  When pain comes my way, I will acknowledge it, verbalize my honest feelings about it, and discover how facing my pain helps decrease its intensity and duration.